"After the Turkish War (1877-1878) I made a series of travels in the Orient. From the little remarkable Balkan peninsula I went across the Caucasus to Central Asia and Persia and finally in 1887 visited India an admirable countr y which had attracted me from my earliest childhood. My purpose in this journey was to study and know at home the peoples who inhabit India and their customs the grand and mysterious archæology and the colossal and majestic nature of their countr y. Wandering about without fixed plans from one place to another I came to mountainous Afghanistan whence I regained India by way of the picturesque passes of Bolan and Guernaï. Then going up the Indus to Raval Pindi I ran over the Pendjab the land of the five rivers; visited the Golden Temple of Amritsa the tomb of the King of Pendjab Randjid Singh near Lahore; and turned toward Kachmyr "The Valley of Eternal Bliss." Thence I directed my peregrinations as my curiosity impelled me until I arrived in Ladak whence I intended returning to Russia by way of Karakoroum and Chinese Turkestan."